Chapter 22
twenty-two
. . .
Cage
“I haven’t seen your cousins in years,” Presley said as we drove toward the city.
I had the afternoon cleared on my schedule so I could head to the city to meet Dylan and Wolf, who were having a disagreement over a dog, of all things.
She’d sounded frantic on the phone, so of course, I said I’d get there as soon as I could.
Gracie was in school, and I’d invited Presley along because our time was winding down, and I thought she might want to take a drive.
“She’ll be happy to see you. She has a little boy now, so you’ll get to meet the baby. And you remember my uncle Jack. He’s staying with them right now, so he’ll be there, as well.”
“I can’t wait to meet the man who got Dilly to settle down,” Presley said with a laugh. “She was always so much fun.”
I spent the next forty minutes filling her in on all the cousins and their husbands and babies. Presley had spent a lot of time with them when they’d come to visit in the summers.
We pulled up to the fancy high-rise and parked in the spot underground where Dylan’s husband, Wolf, had told me to park my truck. As we took the elevator up to the penthouse, it dawned on me that this was probably similar to the kind of place where Presley lived.
“Is this what your building is like in New York?”
“Yeah, pretty much. It’s on the top floor. Underground parking. Nice views of the city.” She studied me. “You and Gracie should come visit sometime.”
We hadn’t discussed seeing each other after she left, but I knew better than to pretend I could handle seeing her once a year when she flew back to visit. I had my practice, and Gracie had school, and I knew it wasn’t realistic to fly across the country for a weekend.
“We tried that once before and made a mess of things, didn’t we?” I said, waiting for her to give me a reason why this time would be different.
“Yeah. But we can still keep in touch, right?”
Keep in fucking touch, my ass. How would that work? I couldn’t be friends with this woman from a distance. Look what happened when we tried being friends here.
We were all or nothing—always had been.
I didn’t want to hear about her going on dates with other men.
I was a selfish man.
I wanted her all to myself.
“We can figure that out when the time comes,” I said, and her shoulders stiffened a bit at my words. But this time, I wasn’t making promises neither of us could keep. Presley’s life was on the other side of the country, where she lived in a penthouse.
I was living in a small town on a ranch, raising my daughter with a bunch of misfit animals. And I fucking loved it. This was my life, and I couldn’t change that.
Not even for her.
Hell, I knew her well enough to know that she wouldn’t let me do it anyway.
The elevator doors opened to the penthouse, as this was their private elevator.
“Hello? Dilly? Wolf? Uncle Jack?” I called out, and my cousin came flying around the corner and lunged herself at me.
“Thank God you’re here. Thanks for coming.” She kissed my cheek and then turned toward the woman beside me. “Say it isn’t freaking so. Presley Duncan? This is the best surprise!”
Dylan hugged Presley just as my uncle Jack and Wolf came around the corner, and the hugs continued.
We made our way into the living room of the expansive apartment, and Dylan offered us some sun tea.
I chuckled at seeing her in this new light, as a wife and mother, and the way she was enjoying it.
We made some small talk. They asked Presley a bunch of questions about living in New York, and then my cousin turned to me.
“Thanks for dropping everything and showing up. It’s a bit of an emergency, and I’m hoping you can talk some sense into my overprotective, overbearing, bossy husband.” Dylan shot a look at Wolf before turning her attention back to me.
I barked out a laugh, as did everyone else aside from my cousin, who didn’t seem to think any of this was funny.
“Overbearing is a bit much, yeah?” Wolf said, raising a brow and looking at her.
“We’ll see about that. My husband has bought a killer dog to be my shadow because he doesn’t think that I can take care of myself and our child on my own,” she said, making no attempt to hide her irritation.
“Baby, that’s not what’s happening here.” Wolf reached for her hand, and she pulled it away and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Okay, I’m going to need more information. Where does one get a ‘killer dog’? Did something happen that you now need protection?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m going to need more information, too. I just got here an hour ago, and there’s been a lot of yelling from this one,” my uncle said, flicking his thumb at his daughter.
“Oh, I’m sorry that I have a voice, and I’m not afraid to use it. I’m not some weak damsel in distress, Wolf. Cage, you need to tell him that we don’t need a vicious animal living in our home.”
I turned my attention to Wolf because, clearly, Dylan was not going to give me answers to my questions.
He blew out a breath. “Obviously, it’s no secret that we have a lot of money. We own a goddamn hockey team; it’s public knowledge.”
“And it’s been that way since we met,” Dylan hissed.
“Correct. But now I have to travel with the team without you because you’re staying home with the baby.”
“Do not use our son as your scapegoat.” She threw her hands in the air. “You don’t trust me. You think I can’t protect myself and our child? We live in a goddamn penthouse with security downstairs.”
I glanced over at Presley, who looked as enthralled with the conversation as my uncle was.
Dylan had always been passionate and reactive, and I loved her for it.
Wolf was also strong and determined, and though I thought they were a perfect match for one another, they were both stubborn and not willing to back down at times.
“This is fucking ridiculous.” He pushed to his feet. “Cage, come on, man, talk some sense into her.”
“I don’t know what we’re talking about. Where is this dog?” I said, glancing between them.
“First off, it’s called an executive protection dog.
And if I’m being honest, I put a deposit down long before baby Hugh came into the world.
This dog has been being trained for the last two years to be a member of the family, as well as to do what is needed to keep you safe.
You’re overreacting, baby.” He placed his hands on his hips and stared at her.
“I’m overreacting? I’m overreacting?” She repeated her words before pushing to her feet and squaring her shoulders at her husband. I reached for my tea at the same time Presley did, and the corners of her lips turned up the slightest bit because she found the whole thing very entertaining.
“You are. These are dogs that become members of the family. They are companions. They are not trained to kill. They are trained to stop the threat.”
“I have heard about these dogs, and they have phenomenal reputations,” I said. “They’re trained to be compliant and calm under pressure.”
“Not helping, Cage,” Dylan snapped at me, and Uncle Jack laughed.
Wolf just stood there staring at his wife, as if he was waiting for her to calm down and get on board.
That wasn’t really Dylan’s style.
She’d have to work this out in her own way.
“Fine. If you all think I need protecting, you’ll have to prove it to me,” she said.
“Don’t do this.” Wolf dipped his head so he was at eye level with her. “Don’t make it harder than it has to be. You wanted a family dog anyway. No one has to know that he’s also a protector.”
Dylan stepped back, moving around the coffee table to the big open space. She bent her knees and got into a fighter’s stance, and I nearly spewed tea all over the couch.
“Prove to me that I need protection.”
“I’m a fucking Navy SEAL. Are you serious?” He glanced over at us on the couch.
“Damn. I wish I had some popcorn right now,” Uncle Jack said, and Dylan shot her father a warning look.
“Come on, tough guy. I’m about to make you my bitch.” Dylan kept her eyes on Wolf as she circled him.
Presley covered her mouth to keep from laughing, and I shook my head in disbelief that she was going to try to fight a man who was twice her size, who was trained to kill, and also madly in love with her.
“You’re being stubborn, Minx,” Wolf said, his voice even as he turned in a circle, and she moved around him.
“Don’t Minx me and try to distract me. If someone breaks into the apartment, they will have to get through me first,” she said, as her arm made a karate chop at her husband’s chest, and he took the hit and chuckled.
“Baby. That’s the whole point. I don’t want anyone to get near you,” he said, and she did some sort of awkward double karate chop that didn’t appear to make a dent in him. Her eyebrows pinched together, and I could see the frustration.
Without warning, she spun around quickly, and her leg came up in a high kick, aiming for what looked to be his head, but he was too fast. He caught her by the ankle and then somehow managed to spin her around, with her back to his chest, as he wrapped both arms around her body, holding her still.
“Let me take care of you, Minx,” he whispered, but we all heard him. I didn’t miss the way Presley sighed beside me. “I can’t live in a world that you aren’t in. Can you give me this win?”
Dylan’s stance relaxed, and she turned around in his arms. “Fine. But Cage needs to check out the dog and make sure he’s safe to have around the baby.”
“Can you fly out to the training facility with me next month and meet him?” Wolf asked me as he tucked her hair behind her ear.
“Of course. Does this mean the show is over, though? It was just getting good.”
Presley smacked me on the arm, and Dylan flashed me the bird.
“I agree. I thought you could take him, Dilly.” Uncle Jack chuckled.
A little cry came over the baby monitor, and Dylan asked Presley if she wanted to go with her to see the nursery and meet the baby.
Presley jumped up and left the room with my cousin.
“So, this is the girl you dated for years, yeah?” Uncle Jack asked, keeping his voice low. “The only girlfriend I’ve ever met.”
“Because she’s the only one I’ve ever had.” I shrugged, and Wolf sat down beside me.
“I take it you’re back together?”
“No. She’s just back home for a few weeks. Her dad had a stroke. I hadn’t seen her in years, so we’re just catching up.”
“Catching up, my ass. You sure don’t look at her like it’s nothing.” Wolf smirked, the cocky bastard.
“Well, you would know, wouldn’t you?” I said, reaching for my tea because I didn’t want to talk about this.
Hell, I didn’t want to think about it.
“I would, and I own that. You know Dylan’s it for me. I was man enough to say it.”
“And if Dylan lived on the other side of the country from you, and she loved her job and her life there, and yours was here while you raised a child on your own… How would you own that?” I kept my voice low, watching the hallway to make sure they weren’t coming back yet.
Wolf glanced at my uncle, and then he leaned forward and rubbed his hands together before his eyes met mine. “However the fuck I needed to. Life is short, man. Don’t spend it making things difficult. Trust your gut. Do whatever it takes.”
“Easier said than done. I have a daughter to think about.”
My uncle set his glass down on the coffee table in front of us.
“I’ve got five daughters, and I get it. You’re a great father, Cage.
But you’re allowed to be happy, too. And your daughter will only benefit from that.
You’re not doing her any favors if you’re sacrificing your own happiness for hers. ”
“Yet, you’ve remained single all these years since Aunt Beth passed away. Focused on your girls and not yourself.” My aunt had lost her battle with cancer, and Uncle Jack had been a widower for more than a decade.
“Is that what you think? That I don’t date because I’m sacrificing for my girls?
” he asked as he shook his head. “I’d do anything for them, you know that.
And for a few years, sure, I knew they needed my full attention, and I wanted to be there.
They’d lost their mother and were grieving.
Hell, we’ll always be grieving for her. But that’s not why I’ve remained single. ”
I looked up at him. “Why, then?”
“Because I already met the love of my life. I don’t know if there’s a second chance at that, you know?
But I can tell you this much, Cage,” he said, clearing his throat.
“If I had a chance to spend one more minute with Beth in this lifetime, I would move fucking mountains to make it happen. Life is short, son. Don’t waste it trying to do the right thing for everyone else. Because who even knows what that is?”
I nodded as I processed his words.
“Wow. I always thought you didn’t date because you were afraid of Dilly bringing the wrath down on any woman who came into your life,” Wolf said, as the corners of his lips turned up.
“Well, that, too.” Uncle Jack laughed before looking back at me. “Don’t overthink it. You’ve got a great kid, and she’s more resilient than you think she is.”
But that still didn’t solve the problem.
Sure, Gracie was resilient.
But that didn’t mean I could uproot her life and move her across the country. Hell, we didn’t even know if that was what Presley wanted anyway.
This was temporary.
I knew the agreement when we started this thing.
I looked up to see Dylan walk into the room with Presley beside her, holding baby Hugh.
And for a brief second, I saw a glimpse of the future.
One I knew was impossible, but it didn’t stop me from thinking about it.